The present disclosure relates generally to equipment useful in operations related to subterranean wellbores, e.g., wellbores employed for oil and gas exploration, drilling and production. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a latch assembly for a rotating control device (RCD) that includes an on-board hydraulic actuation system for remotely operating at least one latch mechanism of the latch assembly.
In operations related to the production of hydrocarbons from subterranean geologic formations, pressure control equipment may be provided for controlling the flow of fluids from downhole to surface locations. For example, blow out preventers and/or an RCD may be provided near a surface location from which a wellbore extends. An RCD may also be referred to as a rotating head, rotating blow-out-preventer, rotating drilling device and/or a rotating diverter, and generally includes a rotating seal member that engages and seals against a rotatable tubular string, e.g., drill pipe, casing, collars, etc. The seal member permits pressure to be controlled in an annulus surrounding the tubular string, thus facilitating operations such as underbalanced chilling or managed pressure drilling wherein the annulus pressure is maintained in a predetermined relationship with a formation pressure. The tubular string may often be arranged for axial sliding through the seal member while the tubular string is rotating or in a non-rotating state such that drilling operations may be carried out while the seal around the tubular member is maintained.
The RCD often includes a latch assembly that permits the rotating seal, a bearing assembly and/or other wellbore tools to be releasably coupled to a body of the RCD (alternatively an RCD body), e.g., an outer tubular member in which the tubular string rotates. It is beneficial to releasably latch the seal member and/or bearing assembly relative to the body of the RCD to permit the seal member, bearing assembly, and/or other devices (e.g., injection devices, valves, plugs, etc.) to be readily installed and removed for maintenance, replacement or other operations when desired. In some terrestrial or onshore applications, the latch assembly may be safely operated by human intervention. However, in offshore applications, it is generally hazardous for a human to be in close proximity to an RCD, e.g., if the RCD is installed in a moon pool area of a floating rig or at a subsea location below a waterline. Therefore, it will be appreciated that improvements are continually needed in the art of constructing remotely operable RCDs. These improvements may be useful whether the RCDs are employed in offshore or terrestrial based rigs.